Morris tribune., 1887-01-26
ROBBERY AND NE.
From Harper's Bazaar.

] FROM . buH"i'
It's Just u bit Of story, sir, that
don't sound much to stranger 81 put
I'd like to tell YOU aboutit. if you have
time to listen, for they've allforgotten
Robbery down here, except me; they re
poor folks, YOU see, and things DRIFT
out OF folks heads when poverty
drifts in.
Robbery? Yes, sir, that was his
name, least-ways the name we gave
him down here. As to % father or
mother, he never had any, l thlnk;
never had any one in the wide world
to belong to except our two Selves
Robbery and me. was the elder, two
long years older than him; but then
was blind, you see, so the two years
didn't count so much, and Robbery
got ahead of me after the time when
the long days of pain slipped into lone
night, and God shut me out OF the
world, not that | grumblc, sir; I've
given over that, and Robbery was al
ways such d cook lad to me that per-
haps didn't miss so much after all.
grew to fancy things and make be-
lIeve | saw a great deal, particularly
after Robbery took to working at his
| trade, shoe black, sir; and sometimes,
when became accustomed to being
always in the dark, went out with
Robbery and held the money that he
made.
Well, not much, perhaps, but enough
for us two, and the little room we had
down at Kingston, over against the
river; only Robbery was an extrava-
CANT lad, not in drink, sir, we were al
ways a sober lot, but i'll oranges.
They were almost his ruin, sir, those
oranges. He use to come up STAIRS
sucking them softly, so that | might
not hear, and thinking to deceive me;
but somehow Smelt oranges, and it
always made me sharper to catch
Robbery whistling little tunes to him
self on the way up, just TO put me off.
He made q great deal of me, did
Robbery, aloEg OF being blind, you
see. and so did the neighbors; but |
was rare proud of him. You don't
know what it is, sir, to sit alone i'll
the dark all day, and then, on a sud-
den, to hear q fellow call out, Here
we are again! Come down and feel
the sun set, and Well count the cop
pers." 1t would make you love any
one, sir, vino had a voice like that,
let alone q fellow like Robbery.
Perhaps you didn't happen to be
in Kingston, SIT, last spring, when
the floods had risen and the land
was under water for miles around.
Robbery had to wade little going
down to his work, but he rather liked
it he SAID; and lie used to tuck up his
trousers and call back to me and
laugh as the water crept around his
feet: and he said folks wouldn't want
their boots BACKED, he feared, for the
water would soon take Off the polish.
used to sit on the windOw-sill to
feel the sun, and if listened very hard
l could hear the ripple-ripple OF the
shallow water at every step that Bob
berry made, and it had q pleasant
sound, and made kind OF company
feeling; but when he was out OF hear
ing, and it still kept ripping up against
our walls the company feeling went
away and lett me lonely, because it
lay for so very long between me and
Robbery.
Well, once l was sitting alone on the
window-silI and the day was very qui-
ct, so quiet that l grew frightened at
last, and stretched out my hands
across the sill to feel my way down. l
felt something that made me shiver
and draw back out of the sunlight;
that made my whole dark life grow
suddenly q beautiful and precious
thing; felt the water ripping almost
up to the level OF the sill, and was
quite alone, and Robbery would new
er know.
l did not call out or go mad with
fright, as Thought at first might do;
only crept away in my everlasting
darkness from the warm sunlight and
sat down on the bed where Robbery
and l slept together, and put my
hands over my ears to shut out the
roar Of the waters.
How long sat there / don't know,
but | think it must have been for
hours, for felt the sunlight on my
face and the waters rushing round me
before | moved again. / was hungry,
too, but when l tried to get down and
reach the cupboard the water took
me offmy feet and crept back to the
bed and on to the shelves of the dress
er to be out of the way. I said
my prayers two or three times, and [
said some prayers for Robbery, too,
for l knew he would be sorry
when he found me some day where
l had died all alone, and in the
dark. And then l tried to think
how things looked from our win
dow, with the water sweeping up
to the very sill, and the red sunset
lying on it, and beyond the pretty
town and the steeple i'll the clock; and
/ thought it was better for me to die
than Robbery, after all, for he could
see, while I-Ihad no pleasure in my
life. And yet l wanted to live;I want
ed to hear Bobbery's voice again; I
wanted the waters to go down and
somebody to remember me at'last, for
1 was afraid.
Well, sir, God answers our prayers
sometimes in way that is terribly
just. 1t takes us long time to find
out that everything is very good, l
think, but we come to learn it at last,
and learn, too, to leave our prayers
as we'll as the answers to God. Some
body did remember me at last, and
came back; somebody whose laughing
voice across the waters was nearer
every minute; somebody whose hands
were on my shoulders, whose eyes,
felt, were on my tace; somebody who
had never forgotten me-Robbery!
Robbery! Bobbery!" I cried, and l
stretched out my arms to him.
Bobte said: II came over i'll
tub, only think! such q lark! but as l
climbed in at the window our tub
drifted away, and however we're to
get over [ can't tell"
"Hou must think of something" l
said, "Bobbery, it was a long day"
"Why, of course it was" Robbery
N Tnr1n olnnU